Skip to main content
Open Book Publishers

7. Score-Based Learning and Improvisation in Classical Music Performance

  • Mariam Kharatyan (author)
Chapter of: Teaching Music Performance in Higher Education: Exploring the Potential of Artistic Research(pp. 181–194)

Export Metadata

  • ONIX 3.0
    • Thoth
    • Project MUSE
      Cannot generate record: No BIC or BISAC subject code
    • OAPEN
    • JSTOR
      Cannot generate record: No BISAC subject code
    • Google Books
      Cannot generate record: No BIC, BISAC or LCC subject code
    • OverDrive
      Cannot generate record: No priced EPUB or PDF URL
  • ONIX 2.1
  • CSV
  • JSON
  • OCLC KBART
  • BibTeX
  • CrossRef DOI deposit
    Cannot generate record: This work does not have any ISBNs
  • MARC 21 Record
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 Markup
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 XML
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
Metadata
Title7. Score-Based Learning and Improvisation in Classical Music Performance
ContributorMariam Kharatyan (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0398.09
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0398/chapters/10.11647/obp.0398.09
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightMariam Kharatyan
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-05-27
Long abstractThis chapter reflects on the author’s artistic path as a classical pianist and her experiences within the artistic research projects Armenian Fingerprints (Kharatyan, 2019) and the ongoing project Armenian Crossroads, the latter project involving music performance students from the Department of Classical Music and Music Education at the University of Agder. With these students, the Armenian Crossroads project explored how the interpretation of scored music can stretch beyond the limitations of Werktreue, by experimenting with co-create approaches and collaborative music making through improvisation. It is argued that the impact of Werktreue on the teaching and learning of music performance of classical music in most of HMEI’s curricula has strongly suppressed improvisational practices and limited the scope for creativity and unconventional interpretations. The author seeks to challenge the norms in higher music education, and describes two artistic projects that explore new methods, seeking to re-introduce improvisation in classical music performance education. Drawing on interviews with the participating students, the chapter brings forth how students found that the improvisation sessions had (i) stimulated musical creativity; (ii) provided broader perspectives on music performance; (iii) promoted listening and interaction (iv) demanded that each performer accept their vulnerability; (v) provided new musical insights; (vi) increased focus and sense of presence. In conclusion, the chapter proposes that by implementing improvisation and including the students in artistic research projects in performance education, novel and creative approaches to the teaching and learning of musical interpretation can be created.
Page rangepp. 181–194
Print length14 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Mariam Kharatyan

(author)

The Armenian-Norwegian pianist Mariam Kharatyan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and has appeared at festivals and concerts with orchestras in Sweden, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, the USA, and Armenia. She has two Master's degrees in piano performance – from the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia, and the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. From 2015-2019 Kharatyan worked on her artistic research Ph.D. project Armenian Fingerprints, interpreting the piano music of Komitas and Khachaturian in light of Armenian folk music. In 2019 she released two albums - Khachaturian, Chamber Music, and Komitas, Shoror published with Simax Classics and Grappa Musikkforlag. Kharatyan is a member of the project REACT - Rethinking Music Performance in European Higher Education Institutions, 2020-2023, funded by ERASMUS+ and the European Commission. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Music and Music Education at the University of Agder, Norway.

References
  1. Berkowitz, L. Aaron, The Improvising Mind, Cognition and Creativity in the Musical Moment (Oxford University Press, 2010), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590957.001.0001
  2. Correia, Jorge, Gilvano Dalagna, Clarissa Foletto, Ioulia Papageorgi, Natassa Economidou Stavrou, Nicolas Constantinou, Heidi Westerlund, Mieko Kanno, Guadalupe López- Íñiguez, Stefan Östersö, Carl Holmgren, Randi Eidsaa, Tanja Orning, REACT–Rethinking Music Performance in European Higher Education Institutions, Artistic Career in Music: Stakeholders Requirement Report (Aveiro: UA Editora, 2021), https://doi.org/10.48528/wfq9-4560
  3. Crispin, Darla and Bob Gilmore (eds), Artistic Experimentation in Music, An Anthology (Leuven University Press, 2014), https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt14jxsmx
  4. Clarke, Eric, F. and Mark Doffman (eds), Distributed Creativity: Collaboration and Improvisation in Contemporary Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199355914.001.0001
  5. Gyodakyan, Georgi, Ejer Hay Yerjshtutyan Patmutyunic [Pages from the History of Armenian Music] (Yerevan: HH GAA ‘Gitutyun’ Hratarakchutyun, 2009)
  6. Cook, Nicholas, Music as Creative Practice (Oxford University Press, 2018), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199347803.001.0001
  7. Goehr, Lydia, The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works, An Essay in the Philosophy of Music (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992/2002)
  8. ——, ‘Being True to the Work’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 47.1 (Winter, 1989), pp. 55–67, https://doi.org/10.2307/431993
  9. Haynes, Bruce, The End of Early Music: A Period Performer’s History of Music for the Twenty-First Century (Oxford University Press, 2007), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195189872.001.0001
  10. Kharatyan, Mariam, Armenian Fingerprints (Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, 2019), https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/650083/650084
  11. ——, ‘Aspects of Interpretation with Multicultural Performers’, in Music E-ducation in XXI-st century: New challenges and perspectives, ed. by Mikolaj Rykowski (Wydawnictwo Miejskie Posnania: Akademia Muzyczna im. I. J. Paderewskiego w Poznaniu, 2021), pp. 209–20
  12. Huber, Annegret, Doris Ingrisch, Therese Kaufmann, Johannes Kretz, Gesine Schröder, and Tasos Zembylas (eds), Knowing in Performing, Artistic Research in Music and the Performing Arts (Bielefeld: Transkript Verlag, 2021)
  13. Rink, John, Helene Gaunt, and Aaron Williamon (eds), Musicians in the Making, Pathways to Creative Performance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199346677.001.0001
  14. Östersjö, Stefan, ‘Thinking-Through-Music, On Knowledge production, Materiality, Embodiment, and Subjectivity in Artistic Research’, in Artistic research in Music: Discipline and Resistance, ed. by Jonathan Impett (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2017), pp. 88–107, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt21c4s2g.6
  15. ——, SHUT UP ‘N’ PLAY! Negotiating the Musical Work (Lund: Malmö Academies of Performing Arts, Lund University, 2008)
  16. Pahlevanyan, Alina, ‘Komitas and the Problems of Armenian Music Folkloristics’, in Komitas Museum-Institute Yearbook, Volume V, ed. by Tatevik Shakhkulyan (Yerevan, Berlin, Halle: Publication Komitas Museum-Institute, 2020), pp. 252–61, https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/295147/edition/270882/content
  17. Small, Christopher, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998/2012)
  18. University of Agder, ‘In-depth: field Classical music improvisation’, course description, website, https://www.uia.no/en/studies2/classical-music-performance/in-depth-fields/in-depth-field-classical-music-improvisation